Owen King's The Curator

I give it 4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️s

Was given a eARC from NetGalley for an honest review!

What do you get when you mix history and fantasy and uprising of never never existed.

Owen King's The Curator is full of the weird and the unexplained.
A slight of hand, an upside down cake of feline prowess 🙀
A Bizarro world indeed!!

A woman searches for the Truth and is fearless!
Mystery & Curiosity
Conspiracy and

The Magic unleashes in Kings wonderful prose!

Very different yet ,very nineteenth century appeal and memorable!

So first off- I confess I adore Owen king but I thought when I requested this it was a Joe Hill- I don’t know why. So- I was shocked about the fantastical premise of this book and was going to just hand it back when I realized, this was a cute idea and I enjoyed it and I WILL add this author to my list and I am not even Joe King. Ugh bad joke.

For fans of V.E. Schwab and Alexis Schaitkin, The Curator is terrifyingly delicious. Venture into a world full of magic, museums, and godlike kittens -- it will keep you entranced to the very last page.

This one was tough for me to get through as the length made it a chore. I loved the premise, and he's a good writer, but I don't think huge fantasies are for me.

Thank you Owen King, Simon & Schuster, Scribner, and Netgalley for this free ARC in exchange for a review. I wanted to like this so badly given the author, but I struggled so much with following the story. I was only get to 25% before I called it quits. Maybe I will try it again but for now, I am putting it down.

This was a long one and unfortunately I couldn't get into it much. I had a hard time grabbing onto the plot and understanding what was going on, so Iost interest.

What a vivid, magical, lovely and FANTASTICAL book. Superb, sublime, and really really pretty! Loved this.

owen king writing a fantastical horror novel about cats, religion, thieves, and and revolutions was absolutely not on my bingo board. but my god was this fantastic! king perfectly blends a fanatical conspiracy with eerie worldbuilding and it’s so compelling. dora is such an awesome main character and i didn’t feel bored once within the 450+ pages. anyone that was a fan of sleeping beauties and double feature is sure to like this one!

A creative concept, part fantasy and part speculative fiction – I’m getting London/New York-ish vibes, circa 1880? The story was wall written and deftly plotted, with all of the seemingly disparate elements cleverly woven together in the final confrontation at the end. Each chapter kept building on the one before it, so even though this wasn’t necessarily a read I zoomed through, I do feel like the pacing kept me moving forward to see what would happen next. I appreciated the cat worship, but not so much the multiple instances of cat killing. I’m still not entirely sure what they had to do with the plot, and even though cats are heavily involved in the final denouement, I still don’t really know why. Or perhaps that’s the point – can one ever know the mind of a cat?

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an eARC of this book!

Really interesting concept. This is actually my first Own King and I really did enjoy in general, but not sure I loved it. The characters were compelling, though not really likeable (which is fine, I don't need to like them). Well written, and I could easily visualize what's going on. Not sure I really liked the ending, but that's more of a personal preference! Thank you so much!!

The Curator is a creative longer version of Owen King's short story of the same name. The world-building is phenomenal. The premise is clever. You'll never look at your cat the same. Highly recommended!

I don't know if I should applaud the author's cunning and cerebral writing style, or if I should pan this book as unnecessarily difficult and lacking in direction.

On one hand, it seems to be just messy characterization and plotless plot twists. But on the other hand, it seems like the puzzle is possibly the author's intended purpose.

"There was a game her brother invented called Stray Cats."

Dickensian cats. Escher's mad dreams.

"Quiet and small was not the same as invisible, but it was nearly so."

"What was the fun if the characters never had a chance?"

I like the premise. And, yes, I'm a cat parent, and maybe parents are more likely to enjoy this one (?). Anyway, turning a short story into a book is risky, and it generally worked here. But did seem a bit forced at times. So, I enjoyed this overall, and look forward to King''s future work.

Thanks very much for the free ARC for review!!

I'm not sure about Dickensian - or, frankly, that's anyone would want that label because of the serious expectations it carries with it... I really struggled to engage with the story or the characters. I just couldn't find my way in, this one wasn't for me.

Excellent world-building and a great storyline. I look forward to more books from this author. It's difficult not to draw comparisons between the author and his father, but hey, greatness is greatness.

This book was described as "Dickensian" and that hits the nail on the head. The main character is strong and engaging, but I can't say the book was my cup of tea. As social commentary it was a bit of a "so what?" And as dystopian/fantasy, it left me a little cold. I'm sure there are readers who will like this book, I'm just not one of htem.

This is a long form expansion of the short story "The Curator" by Owen King. A fantastical story of illusion featuring cats worshipped and revered! Set in an unnamed city, we meet Dora, a retired domestic servant who is searching for sign of her brother following his death. She is quick witted and attempts to take over curating a museum where he once worked. Thwarted, she continues to pull at clues, slowly unraveling a conspiracy as well as the end of the world.

If you are a fantasy fan or a cat fan, or both. If you are an Owen King fan, or fan of the Kings plural, if you are looking for your next great trip into an amazing and creative imagination, The Curator is for you!

I really enjoyed Owen King's short story "The Curator" so I was thrilled to see it more fully fleshed out in this offering.

A great mystery story and cats worshipped as gods (as it should be if they could tell you I'm sure), I feel like this book will only get better with rereads, well done Owen King!

An imaginative tale that felt familiar to me and then I realized this is the longer version of King’s “The Curator” short story. I liked the short story much better, this longer tale felt too forced. The story pounces around and pulled me along but even with all the activity, I didn’t care how it ended. Giving three stars because I liked the short story, but the long story was just too long.

ARC was provided by NetGalley and Scribner in exchange for an honest review. Expected Pub Date: March 7 2023

I wanted to enjoy this one but felt the overall mystery, plot and characters hard to relate to. I can totally see the potential here though, I might just not be the target audience.